Greek Black-Glazed Skyphos

Each tongue-shaped in plan and hollow to the reverse, female bust in high-relief with palla head-covering. 350 grams total, 9.5-11.4 cm



with H.A.C., Basel, prior 1999. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

With rounded base and cylindrical body gently tapering towards the top. 137 grams, 94 mm wide



Ex London, UK, collections, 1990s-2000s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Such small cylindrical cups were destined for everyday use, and some bronze specimens of the same typology, were often engraved on their outer surface with groups of animals. A large variety of drinking-cups were in use among the ancients; Athenaeus in the eleventh book of his Deipnosophists gives a long list of names of such cups, but his descriptions are not sufficient to identify them with any known shapes; moreover, a great many appear to be fanciful names that had come into favour at the time.

Comprising a square base with a raised border and supported by four stub feet, each originally surmounted by poppy-head finials (one now absent); a hollow-formed figure of a banqueteer reclining elegantly with his weight resting on his left elbow, his proper right leg drawn up beneath the folds of a finely pleated robe; in his right hand, a ram’s head rhyton and his left hand cradling a skyphos; his bearded head with a laurel wreath. 1.58 kg, 25 cm



Private New York collection, formed in the 1960s. Acquired on the North American art market, 1990s. with Cahn Auktionen AG, Basel, Switzerland, 13 November 2015, no.84 (CHF 18,000). Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12379-226873. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The composition reflects the iconography of elite banquet culture in the ancient world, capturing both refinement and ritual in a single expressive figure. The Greek 'συμπόσιον' 'symposium' was the later part of a formal banquet which took place after the food had been consumed, when the serving of strong drink was accompanied by music, dancing, poetic composition or recital or earnest conversation. The custom has similarities with the Roman convivium and with the customs of many Mediterranean and Western Asiatic people. The Parthian Empire was culturally diverse and included many Hellenic groups; the Arsacid court adopted a range of aspects of contemporary Greek culture, among them Greek military structures and the Greek language as a lingua franca alongside the Parthian (Iranian) language and Aramaic.